U.S. Rep. Brian Jack (R-GA 3), chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development, recently convened a hearing focused on minor league baseball and its local impact. Jack’s district includes Columbus, home of the Columbus Clingstones, a new Braves’ minor league affiliate who were featured during the hearing.
“I am honored to convene today’s bipartisan hearing and highlight the positive impact of Minor League Baseball on the communities we call home,” said Jack. “I am especially proud to feature the Columbus Clingstones who are an enormous source of pride across the southern part of my district.”
The owner of the Clingstones was a witness for the hearing, as well as Reid Ryan, son of famed pitcher Nolan and owner of the Round Rock Express, a Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, and the Corpus Christi Hooks, a Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. With some 200 teams scattered across the country, often in more rural areas or more mid-sized cities that are the anchors for these rural areas. There has been some academic study to the economic impact. A University of San Francisco professor found that a minor league team increased per-capita income by $67 per year.
“Minor leagues provide so many benefits to our communities: their players participate in local volunteer activities, their teams are a source of pride for their hometowns, their stadiums serve as community gathering spaces, and their games are an affordable entertainment option for families,” said Ranking Member Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI 3).
A great example of minor league baseball economic impact is up the road on I-85 in Greenville, South Carolina. Using bricks salvaged from a number of the closed textile factories in town, owner Craig Brown built a new minor league stadium for the Greenville Drive, a Class A farm team for the Boston Red Sox. The stadium even has a replica of the famed “Green Monster” from Fenway Park in Boston.
The stadium was built in Greenville’s West End, an area not exactly know for its fan-friendly environment. “There was a letter to the editor that said, you put a baseball stadium down there, only prostitutes will go to baseball games,” Greenville Mayor Knox White said in an interview with CBS News. “This was the transformational event. Suddenly, this area close into the stadium became a place for condos and some high rises and hotels. But beyond it, residential neighborhoods were transformed, as well.”
Minor league baseball does not play quite as many games as the majors but 66 times a year, roughly 5,000 make their way to the West End to catch the Drive – more than 300,000 fans over the course of the season. For a town that often gets overlooked on the tourism circuit, the Drive offer something for out-of-towners but also offer a show for the local community and to get money moving around the area. The area around the stadium is now home to condos, hotels and restaurants – a home run for the mid-state.
